There and Back Again V2
by Solis Knight
Summary: Never, in all his years as an inventor did it ever occur to him the danger of his creations... Perhaps if he had seen the warning signs, he might have avoided all this... But how can she face everyone now? Now that nothing is the same?
1. Puella Ex Machina Tails PoV

There and Back Again

V2

Author's Note: Welcome, my friends… to this, my update to There and Back Again. You will hardly recognize this version from the quiet simplicity of the old version. It seems I have taken on a job larger than I had anticipated… I'm ending up rewriting almost every single paragraph as I come across it. You will find a huge improvement between the two versions, and this one will be broken up into chapters.

If you liked the first version, you will definitely love the rewrite. Read on, my friends! Know that I still remember you, even after these long months without update!

Without further ado, I give you… There and Back Again V2.

Tails's workshop was anything but tidy, what with the random tools strewn about in what little space was not taken by computers and desks covered in sketches. Why, do you ask? Well, it was probably due to the fact that the workshop was owned by one of the busiest people on Mobius. Why did it matter? Because it was very cramped for the two-tailed kitsune. Was the kit going to do anything about it? Not a chance. Tails had an immense storage space in the caves below his workshop, which was basically where he slept. So what was the golden kitsune doing now? Anyone who knew the two tailed vulpine would know, just from the look in his eyes. They burned with the spark of innovation, the flame of creation, the power of inspiration. It was this fire that pushed him to work until his hands cramped, until his bones ached and sweat literally dripped off of his fur. Behind him, his unique tails swished back and forth in perfect rhythm, but he hardly noticed. When he worked, there was only the next part, the next innovation, there was nothing else. Machine oil and grease adorned his golden fur coat, fresh stains cropping up almost spontaneously, and yet the kitsune couldn't have cared less. What could possibly have consumed Tails's mind this time?

"There! Another part finished!" The kitsune breathed a sigh of relief as he dropped his soldering gun into its holster and meticulously examined the silicon in his hand. He had just finished soldering a transistor into place in one of many integrated circuits that made up a sensor array. After deciding that the part couldn't have been made better by god's hand, he rose from his workbench and headed over to his machine. A cursory glance over this particular invention showed that it was near completion, and the kitsune smiled with pride at how simply beautiful it looked. He had painstakingly crafted a cylindrical capsule to fit into a metal base, and spent even more time inserting a thick steel door onto one side. He had synthesized the glass that made up the capsule himself, adding rare crystalline compounds into the silica mixture that made normal glass. His special "glass" had unique properties, one of which being that it could reflect and magnify certain wavelengths of energy. Below the capsule was the base of the machine, which was essentially just a hockey puck of metal into which the glass was inserted. To the right of the base, a metal box half the height of the capsule jutted out, complete with computer readout and several buttons and levers. The top of the cylinder was covered by a rough cone-shaped metal cap of sorts, adorned with various knobs for fine tuning. Below the cap, several rings could be seen circling the top of the cylinder, with wire filaments running along the inside touching the capsule. Tails had specifically designed these rings to glide effortlessly up and down the chamber's walls as the machine ran. Tails had placed a set of stairs leading up to the door in front of the base of the machine, and this was where he was about to place his array of sensors. These were fitted underneath each individual step, just like scales… but not.

"Alright, let's hook up these sensors and see what we got!" The kitsune shouted with immense excitement and adrenaline as he slid the sensory chip into place underneath the steps. He had never worked so hard on any invention other than the X-Tornado before, and he was determined to see this one through to the end. Tails tightened down the array of sensors with several bolts, finally feeding the external wires to the computer. The vulpine took great care into hooking up each connection point with supreme accuracy, for any wrong move could ruin all of his hard work and devotion. In front of his face, he could see beads of sweat drip down from the cowlicks of fur that fell in front of his line of vision. Despite what society might think, he preferred to work without a shirt or pants on, allowing his sweat to just drip off where it fell. It was really too much of a hassle to him to clean off all of his clothes every single time he worked, so he eliminated them from the equation. He simply worked and washed up later. Even if people came to the door, it wasn't as if he would be "exposed" per se… his fur was thick enough to cover even the privates.

Eventually, after connecting the last wire into the back of the CPU, he was finally able to crawl back from under the machine and observe his handiwork. Satisfied, he walked over to the digital monitor, where he had mounted his controls. With a mere flick of a switch, the digital readout flared into life, millions of tiny pixels all bursting with light at the same time. A quick scan of the status screen showed all sensors currently reading zero except temperature, which read three different numbers in three different units: Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin. Keeping an eye on the monitor, Tails stepped towards the sensor-rigged stairs. Gingerly, he lowered a foot onto one of the steps, and immediately checked the monitor, which thankfully confirmed his temperature, his pawprint, his health status, his gender, even his height. Tails had crafted the sensor so perfectly, it even knew that only one foot was on the sensor, and the weight readout was waiting for the other foot before recording the kitsune's weight. Upon standing with both feet upon the sensor, his weight was recorded, and Tails confirmed it to be accurate down to a tenth of a pound. He took one step, and then another up the sensor stairs. The readout then began to confirm his genus and species: _Vulpes Vulpes_; his walking pattern, even the fact that he had two tails was recorded within the computer… somehow. A surge of pride welled up within the vulpine. He had outdone himself, and he knew it. All there was left to do was to calibrate the device and it would be finished.

"Well, I guess I'll wash up first… I might as well, since I might not get a chance when the guys come and check this out!" Everyone who knew the vulpine inventor knew that he was nothing if not proud of his work. Tails even took time from his inventing to show his friends a new invention or two, every now and then. Sonic had been crazy about the kitsune's jetpack, to the point where he nearly burned down the shop trying to get another test run. Amy nearly killed him to get at his hypnotism machine, only stopping when Tails smashed the offending invention into pieces. Boy, neither were happy with each other for weeks after that. Shadow was interested in _everything_ the kitsune did, perhaps in the hope that if he invented a new firearm the jet black hedgehog would get a free sample. Yet, for every invention the kitsune revealed and demoed for his friends… there were even more that were for his eyes alone. Take the mind reading glasses, for example; a set of spectacles that would reveal what people were thinking around him. Sure, he could have translated them into sound waves or beam them into his own head, but anyone could tell if he wore headphones all the time, and it got too confusing with their thoughts directly competing with his own within his brain. With a sudden start, Tails realized that he had been daydreaming while he walked. Snapping out of it, he headed into his own private bathroom, which was set aside from his workshop. With a mere snap of his fingers, he opened his automated shower door. Stepping inside, he closed it again with another _snap_, and turned the temperature dial counterclockwise. Almost immediately, water shot up through the pipes deep underground, for he filtered his own water from the ocean. The hot water felt soothing on his greasy fur, for the combined feeling of warmth and cleanliness combined peculiarly into bliss.

"Aaahhhhh… That's the stuff…" He sighed in pleasure. Tails simply stood there with his eyes closed, enjoying every second of his shower. After a few minutes had passed, he finally decided to set to work removing every ounce of grime still clinging to his fur. The vulpine had prepared for just such occasions, developing different soaps and shampoos that targeted every _atom_ of filth and destroyed it. He had even invented his own brand that would make his fur shine like the sun. But that was only for when he needed to impress someone. Particularly the other gender. Tails was not completely vain, believe it or not. Finally, after twenty minutes and thirty nine seconds (he liked to time himself) in the piping hot water, he emerged from the shower cleaner than he had been before he had begun his arduous work. Water dripped constantly from his golden fur, which clung to him like a wetsuit… no pun intended. Any girl would have thought him the cutest thing ever as he looked now. Frowning at this disturbing line of thought, he shook himself dry, not caring that he was spraying the walls of his bathroom as he did so. At least he wouldn't look 'cute' anymore… or at least not as 'cute' as he looked before, thank heavens.

"Now, I just need to finish fine-tuning the rings…" Tails said to himself as he headed back to his machine. Reaching it, he opened the door to the capsule and used it as a sort of ladder to reach the top so he could fine tune the rings. First he placed a foot on the door handle, reaching up to the top of the door for leverage. Suddenly, his foot slipped, and he desperately grabbed the top of the door with his other hand. Down below, his foot grazed something, probably just something sticking out of the door. He shrugged it off, using his tails to bring himself back up to where he was. The vulpine reached the top of the machine, using the door as a platform to stand on as he lubricated, tuned, and tightened the rings before setting them back into their housing. Finished with that task, he set to work fine tuning the knobs and dials on top of the capsule as well. The capsule was perfect now. Tails admired his work from atop the machine, before hopping back down to the floor, careful to avoid any more slips and falls.

Tails's invention was a simple one. To understand the female gender, he had decided to build a kind of omni-sensor. By simply corralling the unsuspecting girl into his capsule, he would be able to learn everything about her there was to know, and he could finally understand why they were so different. These were just his intentions, however… The machine could theoretically work on anyone. In fact, had he shown this machine to hospitals or G.U.N., he might have won himself more than one Nobel Peace Prize, and several fortunes because of its awe-inspiring capabilities. But no… this was to be his own little secret… this was to be his secret weapon. Imagine, a machine that could tell him anything he wanted… G.U.N. would kill to get their hands on it.

On second thought… perhaps he should figure out what he had hit with his foot while he was dangling from the door. It might have been nothing, but one could never be quite sure. Tails took one step after another up his steps, aware but unconcerned that his machine was recording data all the while. The vulpine closed the door for a second, examining the outside for any damage. There was none, curiously. Intrigued, he opened the door fully again, this time checking the inside. Again, there was nothing. Stymied, he turned to the side, seeing if he could have hit anything else with his foot.

Suddenly, the kitsune's foot slipped on a patch of grease, sending him falling back onto his machine. _In_to his machine. Groaning on the floor inside the capsule of his own design, he realized that the door had closed. _Strange_, he thought… _Why would the door have closed? Unless_... Too late did he realize that by not turning the computer off, he had allowed it to do the job it was intended to do. Standing up, he waited for the machine to kick in. Perhaps this would be a good test run, he reasoned… He chose to ignore for the current moment the hundreds of times Amy and Sonic had warned him not to test his inventions on himself. He watched with interest and anticipation as the rings glided down from their positions, flowing smoothly over and under each other as they slid up and down the length of the capsule. Tails was mesmerized by the rings' movements… that is, until his perceptions were shattered as things went wrong. Very wrong.

Tails felt as if he had been sucker punched in the chest, coughing as the air around him turned into a fine pink mist. It was peculiar how the air suddenly tasted sweet, and his nose began to pick up the scent of flowers all around him. Roses, lilacs, lilies, lavenders, any type of flower imaginable, the vulpine could smell it around him. He felt every hair of his fur stand on end, as if he were some superconductor of static electricity. Tails clutched onto his head with both hands, screaming silently as he felt some invasive presence take hold. He suddenly felt an intense desire to go shopping, and an acute sense of romance and love… Tails tried to think through the fog surrounding his body and mind, tried to make sense of it all, but nothing felt the same anymore. He was actually starting to consider _dancing_, of all things! If only that was the worst of it… Tails's eyes opened with shock as his manhood went numb below, and fell to his knees. It was too much for him to take. The pain in his chest intensified, as if the same person who sucker punched him before had come back for round two. His arms shuddered before suddenly giving way on him, and he fell to the floor of the capsule. Somehow, he knew that any muscle he had begun to accumulate was rapidly fading. If he were not still feeling immense pain in his chest, he would have watched in fascination as his rough golden fur was rapidly replaced by elongated, sleek golden fur. He felt his two tails go through the same transformation, as they shuddered just like the rest of his body. Just when he thought the torture might be over, new agony erupted from his voice box, only to fade away not two seconds later. Tails rolled on his back as his vision flared pink, his sense of smell overloaded with perfume, and he could hear a girl moaning somewhere nearby. Finally, he shuddered one last time as the pain finally faded away, and opened his eyes to find that the pink mist had cleared.

Tails rolled over slowly, still aching slightly all over. The kitsune moaned quietly on the floor of the capsule, intrigued as to why some girl was moaning at the same time… The reality hit harshly a second later.

Tails… had somehow turned into a vixen.

Tails was now panting heavily, suddenly afraid of her own, new body. She pushed up weakly from the floor, glad that she had somehow lost a few pounds… probably muscle. Nevertheless, it was a struggle to lift herself to her knees, and then to her feet. Tails had to support herself on the side of the capsule to stop from falling over, and one glance into the glass walls offered a surprising shock. Her irises had become pink. Curious as to what other changes had occurred with her body, she checked herself over. Her fur was long and sleek now, nothing like the rough collection of hairs it had been before. On a whim, she took one of her tails and rubbed it against her arm. It was soft and immensely comfortable to boot. Looking over the rest of her body, she confirmed that there were no traces of manhood below… they had been replaced completely by her womanhood. The vixen decided to take a longer look into the glass mirror, to see her complete reflection. If someone had said that he had looked cute as a boy, they would have described the way she looked now as _stunning_. Tails could even believe that she had found her long lost sister, if she didn't already know whose reflection it was.

Tails reached over to the door handle and opened it, hands shaking heavily. Nothing could have prepared her for what had just happened. The now female kitsune was visibly shaken, even fearful. She didn't know this new body and the urges that accompanied it. She suddenly felt an irresistible urge to brush her new fur, and call one of her girlfriends to chatter about anything and everything. _Oh no!_, she thought._ I'm going to be like Amy!!!_ That train of thought alone would have scared her silly, even without the added shock of it now suddenly being a very real possibility.

"What in the world… happened?" She wondered aloud, finally getting over the shock enough to start thinking normally again. Semi-normally at least… She stepped slowly out of the chamber, making sure that she didn't fall down again. After what happened last time, she didn't want to take any chances. Looking to the left, she realized finally what she had touched when she was hanging from the door. A rather large dent was visible on the side of the delicate computer that controlled the machine. Tails hopped down from the stairs and cracked open the case to check the damage. The vixen identified two of the reading inputs from the central processing unit that were now connected to the power source. She had also apparently jarred the specially crafted electromagnetic wave generators, which were very sensitive. Replacing the door on the case, she concluded that this was the only damage to the computer, and there was no danger to the machine or its new state by leaving it the way it was.

It occurred to her that the alterations to the device meant that she could reverse the process. By jarring the CPU with her foot, she had accidentally connected the sensory input of gender to the power source that fed the wave generator. The computer's gender input was scrambled slightly, so that instead of giving the gender readout to the screen, it sent it instead to the electromagnetic generator, which seemed to be producing a type of radiation that he had never encountered before. A cursory glance suggested that the waves caused minute particles in the air to convert to a pure hormonal mist that covered the entire capsule. Instead of an omni-sensor… she had created a gender-switching device. Tails could switch genders with a flick of the switch now. A moment later, she realized that she had picked up her cell phone from her workbench and had dialed Amy's number before she even knew what she was doing. The vixen hoped she would figure out her new body soon… it was scaring her more and more with every passing second.


	2. Memoir of a Stalker Amy's PoV

**Author's Note: **Welcome back, my devoted fans. This is the… unfortunately short… second chapter of our tale. It was surprisingly quick to revise, too… Anyway, as you read it, I strongly recommend you listen to My Sweet Passion, Amy Rose's theme song from Sonic Adventure. Search for it on Youtube, and you'll undoubtedly find it.

_Sweet sweet, you're so sweet… There's nowhere to hide…_

Central Square was a rather difficult place to spot people in. It was a fact that everyone knew, even the diehard stalkers that still persisted in doing what they did best no matter the place. Yet this rather annoying but unchangeable fact did nothing to dissuade the small pink hedgehog crouching behind the inconspicuous cerulean vehicle from her passion. The white lace at the bottom of the girl's short red dress was mere inches from scraping across the black asphalt, and only a miniscule portion of her red headband covering her quills could be seen through the thankfully tinted windows of the car. Anyone off the street could recognize that this girl was a natural, if not indeed a professional, at stalking her prey. In this case, as in all other cases with Amy Rose involved, the prey was a rather conspicuous cobalt hedgehog.

_Sweet sweet you're so sweet… Come on, settle our lives…_

The blissfully unaware hedgehog was, at that moment, leaning against some random grocery store lining the streets of Station Square. Passersby were shocked to note that the speed demon was standing _still_, a feat unheard of throughout the hedgehog's long and distinguished career of media attention. One who could race at will with speed surpassing fighter jets wasn't meant to stand around idly! Yet here he was, defying all preconceived notions of the supersonic hedgehog. To Sonic's defense, it would be rather hard to eat a chilidog in Mach 1. It probably would have been equally challenging to make use of the cellular phone resting in the grip of his other hand had he been speeding as well. This particular device came directly from Miles Electric, so it was naturally understood that it was no more a simple cell phone than a piece of chocolate was a healthy meal. Tails had taken the liberty to install a top-end tracking device into this particular phone, capable of tracking its corresponding receiver from miles away. Sonic simply had to slip the receiver onto Amy somehow and he would know where she was 24/7/365. Of course, Amy had been sure to leave the not-so-hidden tracker in her room.

_Sweet sweet you're so sweet… I'll always be there for you…_

Amy watched as Sonic dispatched the rest of the chilidog with one last bite, swallowing it with single-minded pleasure. It was well known that Sonic would eat any kind of chilidog, even from complete strangers. Amy remembered one time when she had tried to slip him a chilidog laced with love potion. Her eyes narrowed as she recalled the two-tailed vulpine swiping the chilidog, before throwing it onto the floor. Her one chance at having Sonic all to herself… ruined! But, in all honesty, she couldn't really blame him. He was Sonic's best friend, of course… He would protect the cobalt hedgehog from anyone, even her. It hadn't been the first time, either. If Tails hadn't smashed his hypno-gun into pieces, she would have had Sonic in an instant. For a second, Amy wondered whether Tails had it in for her or something…

_Sweet sweet you're so sweet… In the best and worst times,_

Suddenly, Amy heard a familiar _ba, ba, baya, baaya…_from the hidden place within her dress where she stored, among other things, her cell phone. She cursed, as Sonic heard the dreaded tune and stiffened up immediately.

"Not again!" Sonic shouted to himself as he sped out of the Square in Mach 1, and Amy mentally kicked herself for not switching the blasted device to vibrate. Sighing, she flicked open the phone and put it to her ear. The pink hedgehog had been meaning to get a new phone for a while now… this one was so outdated, it didn't even have a caller ID.

"Hey, Amy here." She began. Only her friends knew her cell phone number, so there was no need to assume that there was someone she didn't know on the other end. Amy was surprised to hear a new voice through the speakers.

"Hi Amy." This voice was female, and rather high pitched… but it definitely wasn't Cream. Amy narrowed her eyebrows in confusion. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out who it was, much less how the girl had gotten her cell number.

"Um… who are you?" Amy asked, more out of curiosity than a desire to not talk to strangers. The girl giggled, before responding in that same strange voice.

"Oh, don't worry. You know me. Head down to the Mystic Ruins, I need to show you something." The line went dead, cutting Amy off before her torrent of questions could begin. She had them all lined up, too: One, how did this girl know Amy? Two, how did Amy know her? Three, why on Mobius would she go meet a stranger who might easily want to kidnap her? Actually, three was more of a rhetorical question. Her trusty Piko Piko Hammer was all the protection she needed, so there was no reason not to go. Who knows, Amy might just figure out who this mystery girl was if she did. After one final sigh, lamenting her latest loss of a chance at her beloved Sonniku, she headed for the train station.

_You can be my sweetest honey for eternity!_


	3. Revelation Tails PoV

**Author's Note:** Thank God! This one is at least over a thousand words! Sorry for another relatively short chapter, but at least it was longer than the last one! Also, at least it was longer than the original. Heh… Over two hundred words longer, in fact. And it's worth every word… Enjoy.

Also, like the last chapter, search for Believe In Myself on Youtube. Make _**SURE**_ you get the Sonic Adventure DX version. The newer one is horrible, IMO.

_I wanna fly high:_

_So I can reach the highest... of all the heavens;_

_Somebody will be_

_Waiting for me so I, have gotta fly higher…_

Tails opened the door to her workshop and felt the first non-artificial light for hours shine onto her newly elongated fur. It was an oddly pleasant sensation. The vixen was suitably horrified to realize that it was not the feeling that she enjoyed, but rather the knowledge that people could see her in all her beauty. As it was, it was all her male side could do to stop her from crafting some makeup to wear before stepping foot outside. Why, oh _why_ had she told Amy to meet her... _why?!_ Why had she even called her in the first place? Tails's situation was going from bad to worse by the second… That being said, she snapped out of her mortifying train of thought only to realize that she had been spinning her tails out of anxiety, and had ironically flown herself high above the ground. It was funny how a fear of her feminine side swiftly taking over her body was so easily overridden by a fear of falling over sixty feet to her death, as her tails immediately stopped spinning from pure shock. It took all of Tails's willpower to make them move again before that ability was taken from her permanently. As she hovered, having stopped less than three feet off of the ground, she made the idle observation that she could fly better in this female body. It was more of a _Duh!_ moment than anything else, almost deserving of a facepalm, but it was all she could think as she recovered from the near-death experience. The vixen almost started to be relieved that her fur had not been dirtied before her male side angrily shook her out of what would have been yet _another_ disturbing train of thought. Determined to stop thinking like a girl, she sped off toward the only lake in the Mystic Ruins, trying and failing to think about giant fighting robots, videogames, and grime encrusted fur. By the time she sat down next to the glassy surface of the lake, her mind had already drifted back to vanity.

It was a half hour of daydreaming beside the lake before Tails noticed Amy walking down the steps of the train station. In truth, she hadn't really been counting the time. The peaceful scenery around her had been more than enough to occupy her full attention. Tails ran a quick mental check to ensure, once again, that both tails were neatly tucked behind her so as not to give the game away from the start. The vixen waved to get Amy's attention, for she had been looking around for her mysterious caller from the bottom of the train station steps. Smiling, the curious hedgehog closed the distance between her and her new friend and sat down in front of the vixen. Said fox knew that it wouldn't be long before the veritable torrent of questions began, and right on cue, the interrogation began exactly 4.3 seconds after the hedgehog had sat down.

"Who are you? How do I know you? And most importantly, how did you get my cell number?" The chatterbox began, talking faster than a full automatic, and Tails would have been doomed had she still had a Y chromosome. Before the vixen even knew it, she was spitting answers back just as fast as Amy had.

"Well, let's begin with the most important one." Tails replied, taking out her cell phone. Said device was clearly made for function, rather than form: a small, dull gray block that looked more like a stone slab than a phone. Amy's eyes widened in realization.

"Did you get that from Tails? How do you know him?" Amy queried, pulling the metaphoric trigger once more, and prompting Tails to do the same. Instead, the vixen stood, presenting two golden tails to the hedgehog. Amy's eyes defied belief by widening further than before.

"So… are you his sister or something?" Amy asked, still not understanding what the vixen was suggesting. The hedgehog probably hadn't even considered the possibility that this golden two-tailed kitsune could be the same vulpine she knew. Tails giggled audibly at the thought, not even noticing her male side cringing at the idea of _giggling_ at anything.

"Guess again." The vixen said, shaking her head. "Never mind, I'll show you instead." Tails offered her hand and pulled the hedgehog up from the grass, and the two girls headed off toward the kitsune's workshop with the kitsune leading. Behind her, she could simply sense that Amy was still completely clueless as to who this golden furred vixen leading her was. '_I wonder how she'll take the news…_' Tails thought idly. If this wasn't a shock for the stoic hedgehog, then nothing short of Sonic being gay would faze the obsessive stalker, she noted, smiling in spite of herself. They reached the stairs leading up the hill, and climbed them two at a time until finally they reached the top. Even though it had only been a short walk, it had probably seemed endless for Amy's curiosity. Tails opened the door to her workshop for the second time that day, and stepped inside with Amy trailing behind. The vixen enjoyed the hedgehog's confusion as she looked around, as if expecting the golden vulpine to crawl out from underneath a filthy airplane or step out from behind a dissected engine and greet them. Tails noticed Amy's eyes linger over the strange new machine in the corner for a moment, but she passed it over, dismissing it as one of Tails' many unknown gadgets.

"That's odd… Where's Tails? And what did you want to show me?" Amy asked again. The vixen smiled as she noticed the ironic fact that Amy still hadn't even asked her for her name! Finally satisfied with torturing the hedgehog long enough, Tails decided to end the charade.

"Haven't you guessed?" The kitsune asked in mock surprise. Amy shook her head, and merely watched as Tails pressed her thumb into a touch sensitive custom security system. A synthesized robotic voice sounded out from the device in response as it made a positive identification of its master.

"_Welcome back, __**Miles "Tails" Prower**__."_

_Gotta keep going-_

_Everything is a brand, new challenge for me:_

_And I, will believe_

_In myself, this is… the only stop for me…_


	4. Frying Pan to Freezer Sonic PoV

**Author's Note: **Welcome back, sports fans! As you are all aware, Summer is almost over! *fans boo* Yes, I know it sucks, but at least there's something here for you all! I give you yet another update! Amazingly, this one's over a thousand words!!! *Really? No wai!!!!* Yes way, this is actually a whopping three thousand! Woot, I know. Good news as well, each successive chapter from now on will be, by default, LONGER THAN A THOUSAND WORDS! Everyone cheer!

Actually, let's just get on with the reading. Enjoy!

A seemingly random building in the middle of one of the busiest cities on Mobius, filled with pedestrians and traffic… Blue paint on the edifice coupled with the high flow of traffic past him made this spot one of Sonic's favored places to hide. Not only was Amy unlikely to see him past all of the foot traffic in the area, it happened to be located to the side of a chili dog stand for the present moment. And of course, Sonic wasn't one to waste an opportunity, so he had naturally gotten about fifteen of them. Cut to five minutes later, and here he was: his last chili dog in one hand, a cell phone with built-in Amy tracker in the other, naturally doing his best to enjoy his Amy free day. After taking another look at the tracker, to ensure that Amy had _still_ not moved from her room, Sonic took yet another ravenous bite out of his chilidog. The savory taste of the meat was unlike any other for the cobalt hedgehog… Perhaps he was in love, perhaps the stand owner had drugged him into loving them, it didn't really matter which one, if either, it was that made him devour them like he had been starved for weeks. With one last gaping mouthful, he consumed the rest of the chilidog, making sure to chew it thoroughly to absorb each and every miniscule flavor the stand owner had dutifully crammed into it. Suddenly, his innocent mastication of a delicious chilidog was cut short by a sound seemingly crafted by the devil himself. Just one second of the dreaded music seemed to have the innate ability to force Sonic to choke on the remains of his chilidog, as if just to spite him for trying to enjoy what could quite possibly be his last meal on Mobius. The thought that not even his super-sonic speed could save him if he stayed one more second was more than enough reason to cut his losses and immediately vamoose.

_Ba, ba, baya, baaya… Sweet sweet you're so sweet…_

"Not again!" Was all he could manage to scream before his legs took off seemingly of their own volition. As he passed through the sound barrier into Mach 1, he thanked the heavens that it was _juuuust_ fast enough to put him far, _**far**_ away from the unspeakable monstrosity that had nearly cost him his life. If there was one thing he was genuinely scared of besides water… it was the small, unassuming pink hedgehog known as Amy Rose, to whom the theme song of death belonged. Or rather… the aforementioned demon girl's _**hugs**_. For whatever reason, be it the precise way she wrapped her arms around him, a specific area of the body she could squeeze to instantly drain all signs of life from his body, or simply a large reservoir of bone crushing force she possessed within her, her hugs could be legally relabeled as lethal weapons. They inspired fear into the speed demon's heart beyond all else, to the point where he couldn't have slowed his frantic pace even if he had wanted to. It was ten minutes of pure terror before Sonic's frantic heartbeat slowed to a point where he could stop and take a look around. He wasn't in Kansas anymore, that was for sure. No longer could he see bustling streets, great skyscrapers and hundreds of thousands of pedestrians… These had been replaced with lush forests, trees as tall as buildings, and blue sky barely visible through a rather thick leafy canopy. Perhaps he had run himself into the forest next to the Mystic Ruins, he thought absently.

"Well, at least the scenery is nice…" He muttered to himself, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Sonic wasn't one for endless lines of trees with no end, almost stretching on to the end of the universe. If he didn't know better, he would have thought they stretched on forever, but he knew it was impossible. The cobalt hedgehog had already run across the world at least dozens of times already, at least long enough to realize that Mobius was a round planet. Sighing internally, he placed his hands behind his head as he often did when he was bored, picked a random direction, and began to walk. Sure, he could have made use of his super-sonic speed to escape this dreadful prison, but then again… an indefinite stay in a prison of trees was still much more preferable than a mere five seconds in Amy's Grip O' Death, a trademark she should have filed for long ago.

After what could have been minutes, hours, or even days of walking, Sonic finally lost his anxiety that had almost become akin to claustrophobia. Sure, that time when a snake had dropped from a branch above him and tried to bite his head off had thrown him off a little, and the spider web he had walked into had definitely caused many a goosebump, but it wasn't like he hadn't faced worse from Eggman's robots before. Sonic even found himself disappointed, after maybe an hour of walking, to find the ladder that marked the only escape from the sea of trees. After a harsh wakeup call involving a few well deserved slaps to the face and punches in the stomach, Sonic ordered his obviously deranged mind to climb the ladder, or face the consequences. Of course, it obeyed. At the top, he was met with what would have amounted to a big disappointment had he not traveled this way before. Only the gaping maw of a seemingly abandoned mineshaft appeared to greet him, a sure death trap to those who didn't know the way. Thankfully, Sonic had taken more than a few joyrides in the mine carts, so he knew his way around. The breakneck speeds that only the mine carts seemed to be able to achieve was what appealed most to the hedgehog adrenaline junkie, not so much the near pitch black course or the bats who seemed to love to whack him in the face as he rode. Luckily, the light of day was enough to guide Sonic through the maze of tunnels, until he finally emerged into the Mystic Ruins, having once more thwarted the mines' attempts to confuse him and leave him stranded.

It was strange how he suddenly found himself with nothing to do, now that he had found civilization. Originally, Sonic had planned that day to run, jump from rooftops in Station square, run some more, eat some chilidogs, run even faster, meet with the mayor, and then keep running, and that had just been his _morning _schedule. Now that his Amy problem had led him to the Mystic Ruins, he found himself in need of something to do.

"Well, I guess I can crash at Tails's place for a bit… after all, she seems to avoid it like the plague, heh." Sonic wasn't too far off with his joke. Amy hadn't been near Tails's workshop since one of the kitsune's earliest demos. The vulpine inventor had created a hypnotic machine that could abuse the power of suggestion to influence a chosen target's mind. After a near fatal struggle over the machine, during which Amy had nearly destroyed one of the Tornado prototypes, Tails smashed his own machine to end the fight. The pink hedgehog had been furious with the vulpine inventor, and Tails had hardly been ecstatic about having to destroy his own machine either. Ever since, neither had willingly shared a room together if they could help it. Come to think of it, Sonic wondered why he didn't spend more time with Tails, seeing how he was a veritable Amy-repellant all on his own. One foot after the other, the cobalt hedgehog continued leisurely walk up to Tails's workshop, free of such worries as psychotic hedgehog fangirls and killer snakes. Finally, after a hectic morning full of chilidogs, running from Amy, and creepy walks in a sea of trees, Sonic could finally relax. He walked up to Tails's door and knocked, instead of just busting down the door like he usually did. The cobalt hedgehog was practically the kitsune's older brother, so today he decided to act like one. Strange, though… after waiting half a minute, he received no answer. He tried again, knocking a little bit louder this time. No response. Finally, just as he was about to let himself in, the door finally opened: revealing his little bro-

"SONNIKU!!!" After a blood curdling scream, Sonic found himself struggling for his life as Amy Rose leapt through the doorway, catching him in what he was now going to forever dread as the infamous Grip O' Death. The choking's hedgehog's gasps for precious oxygen became muffled under the relentless squeals of joy from the female stalker, who had finally gotten her chance at her precious Sonniku at last. Stars began to swim in front of his vision, and just as the darkness threatened to overwhelm him Amy finally relented in her fatal grip. Air rushed into Sonic's eternally grateful lungs after being dropped unceremoniously to the ground, no longer having the brain capacity to even wonder why Amy was here, of all places. All he could think was _'Somebody help me, somebody save me, someone, ANYONE, SAVE ME FROM THIS TORMENT!!!'_ Vaguely, behind a backdrop of oxygen deprivation derived delirium, he could hear Amy's voice. It wasn't so much 'words' than random gibberish, or at least it seemed that way to him from his position on the ground fighting for every breath.

"Hey, Sonic! Why'd you run away from me?! You big meanie!" Amy obviously was in a mood to inflict more bodily harm upon him, so he hastily picked himself off of the ground and backed away… far away… until he was out of conceivable reach. And then some.

"Why do _you_ think? Do the words '_Grip O' Death_' mean anything to you?" Sonic retorted, even going so far as to mimic quotation marks with his hands as he said 'Grip O' Death'. Although Amy should have gotten the hint by now that her worn out stalkee was tired of this crap day in and day out, the knowledge only seemed to fuel her desire to have him at any cost. Sonic took another step back as she continued to stare at him, hoping to remove himself from the risk of an inevitable choking hazard, but something caught his eye that stopped him dead in his tracks. Someone else was at the door, and thankfully it was Tails.

Sonic almost did a double take as he found that he stood corrected. A fox did step out through the doorway, but despite the fact that she bore a visible resemblance to him, she wasn't his little bro. Now that he looked closely, however, he noticed that there were many things that made her unique from the vulpine inventor. For one, her fur was much longer, and was much smoother as well… Another difference was the fact that she was slimmer, and her tails looked like soft, golden down. Wait, her _tails_… that meant that she had to be-

"You… Are you Tails's sister?" Sonic blurted out, not wanting to let the awkward silence that had developed drag on. The cobalt hedgehog ignored Amy's giggling from her position next to the golden kitsune, probably just one of those girl things that happened every 1.36 seconds. As he waited for a response from the vixen, Sonic took the time to inspect her even closer. The most striking difference between this girl and Tails was her eyes… the irises were bright pink. An odd color, but he had seen stranger things in his lifetime. It was odd, but Sonic almost couldn't _help_ but look at her. Perhaps it was the fact that, like his little bro, the vixen was not wearing any clothes. Only shoes adorned her feet, for some reason… An odd coincidence, but although they had never met, Sonic felt as though he had seen her somewhere before. But that was probably because she was Tails's sister. Yeah, that was it, he told himself.

"Uh… Y-yeah, yeah that's it. I'm Tails's sister… Er… nice to meet you. And you are?" The vixen's voice was light, but it came nowhere near the levels of Cream's voice pitch. Sonic was almost heartbroken that she didn't know his name… Being Tails's sister, she should already have known who he was!

"Who am I? I'm Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog, at your service!" Sonic said, as he dropped onto the ground, spinning in the air off of one hand before back flipping into the air, landing exactly where he had started. It was a move that he practiced often, not out of vanity, but because he spent far too much time kicking the snot out of Eggman's robots. He liked to use the move as a victory dance. "Surprising, though… I'd have thought Tails would have told you all about me." In front of him, the new girl and Amy giggled together, as if it were some private joke between them. Sonic raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment. Suddenly, it dawned upon him that he hadn't asked the pretty vixen her name yet! Ashamed, he hastily worked to correct his mistake.

"And you are…?" Sonic said, bowing for added effect. Bonus points for Amy fuming off to the side, grumbling as she did so. Something about _'sonic never bowed for me… i'll get him for that'_ or something… the cobalt hedgehog hadn't really been paying attention. At that moment, he had actually fallen back into a habit of staring at the vixen as she thought of an answer, not really noticing that the simple nature of the question shouldn't have mandated a half minute wait for a response. His eyes had been captivated by that soft, silky fur… he just wanted to run his fingers over it, and close his eyes as she sighed in pleasure… Sonic suddenly jerked himself to reality before his mind could wander to that place it inevitably did when he thought about girls… Blood rushed to the hedgehog's face as he realized that his face hadn't been its original destination. It was at that moment that, with the wait having been completely ignored by Sonic, the vixen gave her answer.

"I-I'm… Kimitres Prower… B-but you can call me Kim, if you like." Kim answered, in that same light, soft voice that was gradually growing upon him. _'Kim._' Sonic repeated to himself internally. He'd have to remember the name that went with such a pretty face. It was only then that Sonic realized… this was Tails's sister! His _sister_, for crying out loud! He shouldn't feel this way about what was basically his own family… should he? Pushing the thought aside, Sonic resolved to discuss it with Tails later. Something else was bugging him at the moment… and it wasn't Kim's response time.

"So, Kim… Where have you been? Me and Tails have been bros since he was little, and he never once mentioned you." For a moment, the girl's eyes seemed to widen in shock… but it was gone so quick, Sonic had to wonder if it had ever been there at all. Perhaps he had just been staring at them too long…

"W-well, Tails… Tails got lost… as a kid… I don't think he remembers me much. Or our parents." The golden furred vixen replied, providing a rather convenient excuse as to why she had been absent all his life. A little bit _too_ convenient… But Sonic had a rule to never argue with a girl that cute. D'oh, there he went off again… Couldn't he forget about looks for just five minutes?

"Odd… Tails isn't one to get lost easily. Then again… he _was_ a kid at the time… Oh yeah, by the way, have you seen your bro around? I was looking for him." Sonic lied… of course, neither of the girls could know that. Amy probably would have been downtrodden if she knew that he had come here to get away from her. Scratch that, she would probably pull her Piko Piko hammer out of her ass or wherever she hid those giant hammers of hers and rip him a new one. Speak of the devil… Amy was being really quiet. Unusual for her… or rather, she was doing what Sonic was doing: staring at Kim. Sonic would have raised an eyebrow if he hadn't already suspected the female species of being capable of telepathy. With the way they seemed to know everything, it was more than possible…

"I dunno… haven't seen him." Kim replied, eliciting a casual nod from Sonic. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Amy was preparing for another charge. Apparently, she had deemed him 'recovered' enough from the last death hug to give him another rib crushing grip of almost certain spinal cord damage. Just as she charged, in a split second decision, Sonic dodged to the side like a matador, spinning around to let Amy dash right by. It was almost like the real deal, and was certainly humorous enough to leave Kim giggling up a storm from her front row seat. Grinning, Sonic attempted to make his exit.

"Alright, if you see him, tell him I- Whoop!" Sonic yelped as he spun once more to dodge yet another charge from Amy, this time a surprise ambush from behind. Kim was unable to stifle another giggle as he did so. "Tell him that I stopped by, okay? See ya- whoa!" Sonic dodged once again as Amy mounted one last vain assault to claim her prize. "See ya!" he grinned, flashing a peace sign before spin dashing off to the train station, leaving Amy to mourn her loss of what would have been another exciting fangirl glomp. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could hear something behind him as he awaited his next ticket out of there.

"So… where were we?" Amy asked, her voice almost too faint to make out.


	5. Deception Brewed Tails PoV

**Author's Notes:** Welcome back, fans and fanettes. As you may well be aware, it has been a while since my last update. I apologize… revising the revision took longer than expected. I deliberately stayed up late tonight to finish what had been a delayed project. I would like to take a moment to thank Tailsic, for her invaluable assistance with this chapter. Let's all cheer for Tailsic, everyone!

We'll wait until you're done cheering… Okay, now we may proceed. Enjoy.

Amy simply stood there, staring… her eyes lifeless orbs, incomprehension stopping her mind dead. Over and over, her eyes darted back and forth… From Tails, to the device, back to Tails… it was simply too much for her mind to handle, it seemed. Finally, after tolerating Amy's gaping mouth for what must have been a minute of silence, the vixen sighed in exasperation. The pink hedgehog wasn't stupid, and she wasn't getting any older just sitting here waiting for a fuse change.

"I _am_ Tails, Amy. I wouldn't lie to you." Each word came out with deliberate slowness, leaving no possibility for miscommunication. Finally, after a female lifetime, which actually only translated into a few minutes of silence, Amy snapped out of her haze of disbelief. Unfortunately, Tails realized, the pink hedgehog quickly replaced disbelief with the fury of a woman scorned… And within a millisecond, had an entire lecture planned out to give to the now terrified kitsune who now faced almost certain doom.

"**What did I TELL you about testing your machines on yourself, Tails?! Damn it! Look at yourself!**" Amy screamed, her thundering voice echoing maddeningly off of the walls, which only ever seemed to magnify the already ear-splitting volume to new heights. Tails gulped, cringing as the hedgehog's fury washed over her. Granted, she should have expected this from the girl who screamed at people for not commenting on a new dress or hairstyle… but she hadn't faced this kind of onslaught before in her life. There was no time to prepare… Before the vixen could even begin to explain herself, Amy had already begun Round 2.

"**Earth to Tails, YOU'RE A GIRL NOW! How could you do this to yourself? What were you trying to do?! What could you POSSIBLY have been trying to accomplish here?!**" Tails's ears were starting to ring, and all she could think that it was surprising that the ringing had only _just_ begun. Next on the list was a skull splitting headache… that is, if Amy's hammer didn't get to it first. It was as if Amy had been waiting all her life to deliver this lecture, perfecting it until it wasn't just a hobby… it became an artform. Even though she had included questions, Tails knew that she would be given no opportunity to answer them. The vixen was going to have to wait until the end before she got a chance to explain herself, or at least until the Apocalypse came. Either way, all she could do was merely stand there, staged in mortal combat with herself to not cover her ears, for it would only make the hedgehog's screams that much louder.

"**One of these days Tails, you're going to kill yourself. You're going to make something innocent, and it's going to blow up, and you're going to DIE! How could you be so STUPID?! Well? ANSWER ME!!!**" Amy had finally reached her climax, the point where Tails had the opportunity to end it right there. She had one chance, one tiny window of hope that she could leap through to freedom. The vixen took the opportunity by the horns, calling upon every feeling inside of her new body and mind to guide her.

"AMY! Don't insult my intelligence!" Tails screamed back, in a feeble attempt to match Amy in volume. Rule #1 in interrupting a lecture was to stoop to the opponent's level. Amazingly, the vixen found herself able to understand how the system worked… almost like a recipe, each ingredient coming together to form perfection. Tails had a legitimate argument, essentially a pound of salt to add to Amy's lecture soufflé, but she couldn't deliver it if there was a lid over the mixing pot. Hence, she had to scream to make herself heard, and wrench off the lid to throw a wrench into the works. Of course, bonus points for faking indignance. Instilling doubt into the one delivering the lecture was key to turning the situation to her favor, almost as if she was making Amy forget the key ingredient.

"Do you _really_ think I would do this to myself? _Really_? Give me some credit! I know better than you the dangers of my machines!" Just as natural as the first rule had come to her, Tails understood the second. Tails had taken something in Amy's argument and proven it false, taken the half cup of milk and replaced it with white paint. The kitsune-turned-argument-cook was now in the position of power, as she had effectively rendered Amy speechless. She took a second to calm herself down, taking a few deep breaths before explaining the situation.

"This invention," Tails said as she pointed to her creation, the blasted machine that had started all of this misery. Amy's eyes followed dutifully, staring at the harmony of twisted metal and glass that had become the inventor's ninth symphony. "was not meant to change my gender." Again, the vixen spoke slowly to ensure comprehension from the pink hedgehog. When she was satisfied that Amy understood without a doubt that the vixen's current situation was completely unintentional, the kitsune continued.

"While I was working on the machine, my foot slipped and hit the computer. I wasn't paying attention to where I stepped as I looked to see what had happened, and I accidentally slipped on a patch of grease and fell inside." The vixen explained, walking Amy over to the machine so that she could inspect the damage herself. The hedgehog moved in closer to find that the vixen hadn't been lying. Even from as far away as she was, the deformity was as plain as day. Amy turned back to tails and nodded… as if to say _'I believe you… What happened next?'_

"When I fell in, the door closed and the machine turned on. I had no idea that just jarring the machine would screw everything up… but by hitting it, I ended up making a gender changing machine out of a scanner. And its first test subject…" Tails lowered her head in shame unable to say those next few words as her eyes began to water. Not only had she been stupid enough to hit her own machine, not only had she been careless enough to slip and fall inside with the computer still on… she had screwed up. She had screwed up… and now she had become_ this_. Tails was ashamed… because there was no one to blame but herself.

It happened so suddenly, the movements didn't even register in her brain… it just felt natural. Tails found herself in Amy's arms, tears dripping onto the hardwood floor below. It was an oddly comforting feeling to know that the hedgehog, who she had been feuding with until just seconds ago, was there to comfort her… Nothing else mattered now.

It was a long time before the flow of tears began to subside… even longer before they finally dried, and Amy began to relinquish her comforting embrace. Tails smiled, wordlessly thanking the hedgehog for being there. She sniffed, trying to clear her sinuses from the tear-induced blockage. Amy handed her a tissue, which she accepted gratefully.

A rather heavy knock on the door caught both girls' attentions simultaneously. No way that it could be someone short like cream, she was too small... Shadow would just have opened the door, ignoring any form of social etiquette by policy. Big almost never came up from the forest, so it couldn't have been him. That left only Knuckles and Sonic as possible visitors. Considering the pugnacious echidna almost never left Angel Island, that left only…

The girls locked eyes, a silent message passing between them. _'I'll hide, you go see who it is.'_ The golden vixen thought, somehow transmitting the message over to Amy, who returned a simple nod. Tails immediately lowered herself onto her hands and knees, crawling silently over to a workbench and sliding underneath, leaving no trace of her existence behind. Her position had been carefully chosen, having no visibility from the door yet allowing the hidden to peer out just barely enough to see what was happening. Even as she hid, the kitsune could hear Amy creeping up to the front door, the air around the pink hedgehog making more sound than the hunter herself. It was frightening to witness firsthand the instinctual affinity contained within Amy Rose to stalking her prey.

As the door opened suddenly, Tails ceased breathing as she waited to hear who was at the door. She was forced to place her hands over her ears as the horrifying squeals of an ecstatic Amy reached them, rolling her eyes as she pieced together who was at the door. For a moment, the kitsune considered revealing her presence to him. After all, if Amy couldn't guess her identity…

Nodding to herself, she decided to do it. _'After all'_, she thought… _'What could possibly go wrong?'_ The golden vixen rolled out from under the bench and stood up, Dusting herself off as she did so. As Tails walked to the front door, Sonic's voice drifted through to her, and she stepped outside just in time to catch the end.

"-words 'Grip O' Death' mean anything to you?" As she stepped out, the vixen noted that Sonic was in the middle of a hasty retreat from Amy. From the look of bliss on the pink hedgehog's face, it appeared that she had received her much sought after glomp, for once. On second thought, _received _might not be the best term… Tails grinned, deciding to ignore the angelic two-tailed kitsune sitting on her right shoulder telling her to be _empathetic_ and bla-bla-bla… If Amy was able to catch Sonic and glomp him, she deserved to glomp him. Tails would have done the exact same thing in Amy's place.

Immediately, she covered her mouth with her hand as she realized that her worst fears were being realized: she couldn't help but start to think like Amy. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Sonic staring at her. It wasn't an… _unpleasant_… stare… But she couldn't help but wonder whether he suspected that she was really Tails… or he was staring at her because of her looks.

"You… Are you Tails's sister?" It was a good question. Could the vixen pull it off? Could she get away with being Tails's sister? Would Sonic ever find out? What would happen if he did? Was it too late to just run? The kitsune had never had so many questions swirling around in her head before… As she tried to answer the only one that _hadn't_ come from her own brain, she found an irritable stutter had crept into her voice in the confusion.

"Uh… Y-yeah, yeah that's it. I'm Tails's sister… Er… nice to meet you. And you are?" Whether the stutter served to better fool Sonic into believing, or simply made her sound as if she were trying and failing to fool a polygraph test, Tails noted that it wasn't hurting her chances at all. Sonic couldn't, or wouldn't, take his eyes off of her. To her left, she could hear Amy giggling uncontrollably, but the vixen fought the urge to look at her and tell her to shut up. It would have been a wasted effort, however. What Sonic did next would have only served to make her a hypocrite.

"Who am I? I'm Sonic! Sonic the Hedgehog, at your service!" The heroic hedgehog said in mid-performance, dropping onto the ground and lifting himself into the air with one hand as he raced in an airborne circle, seemingly using a cushion of air as his footing to race upon. As if to add the proverbial cherry on top, he kicked his legs into the air, following through with his body in a spectacular backflip as his finishing touch. It was the same victory dance Tails had seen every time Sonic turned one of Eggman's robots into expensive tin cans, but she couldn't help but feel impressed in spite of the fact… Did he add something to the routine, something just for her? Or had his arrogant bravado turned to elegant grace through her new eyes? No… the very idea was absurd. But the feeling remained, nevertheless.

"Surprising, though… I'd have thought Tails would have told you all about me." The golden vixen couldn't help but giggle at the irony of the statement, and beside her Amy joined in the fun. Not only was Sonic being so cocky, Tails couldn't _believe_ that she had _actually_ convinced him that she had a sister in the _first_ place. It was impossible _not_ to laugh at the cocky hedgehog who, not five minutes ago, had complained of a killer _hug_.

"And you are…?" Sonic said as he bowed at the waist. Tails couldn't believe her eyes… he had actually _bowed_ for her… _Bowed_! She mouthed the word, instinctively placing her hand over her heart. It was fluttering… Not good. Next to her, Amy voiced aloud the same thought they were both sharing.

'_Sonic never bowed for __**me**__! What makes __**her**__so special?! I'll get him for that_!_'_ It was so quiet, Tails could barely hear it, overshadowed as it was by her own heartbeat. Sweat beaded down her forehead as she realized what he had asked her. _'Oh my god… I didn't think up a name! What am I going to do?! No time to ask Amy, and she wouldn't have anything good anyway… Come on, Tails. You can do this… Think…'_ It was no use, there just wasn't enough time. She tried to come up with_ something_, but her mind was drawing a complete blank. Not even a simple Samantha or Tiffany occurred to her to say.

Suddenly, like almost everything decent born from her mind, the solution came to her. _'Wait… Miles Prower. __**Miles**__… Why not Kilometers? __**Kim**__… It's perfect!'_ Donning the irritable stutter she had developed once more, she desperately clung to the first words that came to her, having spent all of her energy just thinking of a name.

"I-I'm… Kimitres Prower… B-but you can call me Kim, if you like." She felt the rush that came with inventing take over, a sense of pride over her new name. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Amy's eyebrow raised, as if to say: _'Kim? Was __**that **__the best you could come up with?'_ Kim's eyebrows narrowed, as she replied back: _'So what? It's not like __**you**_ _have to use the name, right?' _Amy looked back to Sonic, conceding the point. The vixen followed suit, just in time for Sonic to respond.

"So, Kim… Where have you been? Me and Tails have been bros since he was little, and he never once mentioned you." Kim's eyes widened in shock once more as she realized that she had forgotten to construct a past for herself. She should have known better than to celebrate so early… For a moment, she contemplated when Sonic had gotten so smart, before she remembered that she was supposed to be the one to stick up for him in that area. It had been everyone else's idea that he was slow-witted, which was simply not true. It's unsurprisingly hard to think after having just come out of Mach 1. Putting that particular train of thought aside for later, she devoted the rest of her brain capacity to finding an answer, and fast.

"W-well, Tails… Tails got lost… as a kid… I don't think he remembers me much. Or our parents." Somehow, she didn't feel quite as proud of herself as she had felt before. This explanation had been a last resort, but nothing better had come to mind. Beside her, Amy was mouthing something: _'Lost? What kind of excuse is __**that**__?! Move over and let __**me**__ steer this thing before you crash and burn.' _It took a great deal of restraint not to respond: _'By all means.'_

"Odd… Tails isn't one to get lost easily." For a brief moment, Tails's throat closed. It was all over, Sonic was beginning to suspect something was up. Now he would surely see the truth, see past the lies, past her appearances, and recognize his little brother for what she had become…

"Then again… he _was_ a kid at the time…" Kim breathed an internal sigh of relief. He had fallen for it.

"Oh yeah, by the way, have you seen your bro around? I was looking for him." The vixen shook her head, returning her gaze from Amy back to Sonic. Oddly enough, she found herself looking him straight in the eyes, those clear orbs that she could peer through like a glass… It was strange… but she knew that he was lying. Somehow, Kim could peer into his eyes and see the truth: that Sonic had really come here to save himself from Amy, and had failed miserably. The irony of it nearly made her smile, but she couldn't. She had an answer to give… luckily, Amy was too busy glaring at her to look at Sonic at the moment. _'Jealousy is highly underrated'_, thought the golden furred vixen. _'What better way to keep Amy from the truth?'_

"I dunno… haven't seen him." Sonic nodded. To her left, Kim noticed Amy preparing for another death charge… perhaps now was the time to watch and learn, so that she could do-

Kim snapped out of it, refusing to even _think_ like Amy, if only for a second. Suddenly, Amy began the charge, and Kim saw the terrifying precision with which she placed every foot in front of the other. Each step in the cadence was deliberately executed until Amy herself nearly reached the speed of sound, all this power aimed directly at the cobalt hedgehog, the unsuspecting victim of yet another-

It was over in an instant… luckily, Kim hadn't blinked. Sonic suddenly spun, not some girly ballerina's dance or a drunken twirl, a deliberate matador's spin… The cobalt hedgehog twisted free from the deadly horns at the last second, taunting the beast into another charge. It was so real, so lifelike, it naturally became comical… and Kim couldn't help but laugh. Sonic seemed unfazed by the attack.

"Alright, if you see him, tell him I- Whoop!" Sonic yelped as Amy came around for her second charge, Sonic's latest tactics seeming to have no effect upon the stalker-turned-bull's modus operandi. Another carefully timed spin sent Amy careening past her target, and Kim's laughter reached a new height. Her chest began to ache with each laugh, but Sonic wasn't about to stop there.

"Tell him that I stopped by, okay? See ya- whoa!" Another spin as Amy charged once more in what was fated to be her final assault. Kim almost expected the cobalt comedian to yell "Ole!" or "Torro, Torro!" like some Spanish entertainer… but Sonic had his own signature.

"See ya!" Sonic flashed a peace sign, grinning from ear to ear before executing a flawless retreat. His form shifted seamlessly into a spiked ball, dashing off to the train station with breathtaking speed. By the time Amy stood up again, dusting herself off as she mourned what was yet another loss at a chance to glomp Sonic once more, Sonic had already disappeared. Sighing, she walked back over toward Kim, who was at this point staring off into the distance in disbelief. Over and over in her mind, she repeated the same words.

'_I can't believe that worked. I can't believe that worked. I can't believe…'_ As Amy came close, she allowed herself to be led indoors, not once interrupting her chant. Vaguely, she could hear Amy speak before she closed the door behind them:

"So… where were we?" But of course, she didn't hear her. Her mind was on other things… mainly:

'_What am I going to do now?!'_


	6. Call Me Mr Hyde Amy's PoV

**Author's Note: **Welcome back, sports fans! I know it's been a while since I've updated, and I'm sorry. As many (most) of you know by now, school has officially started. And you know what that means.

Yes, I'm not going to have much time to work on this. Rest assured, though… I will make every effort to continue working on this, even if I have to force myself to work in the dead of night! (Actually, that's when I prefer to work anyway, so that might work out a little better than planned…)

Enjoy!

"Tails?" Amy asked, tentatively, wondering at the vixen who was now shivering as if possessed. It was eerie the way her eyes twitched, her hands shaking almost as though she were having a seizure. Yet her eyes stared straight ahead, her mouth moving silently, breathlessly chanting in some mystifying language. The pink hedgehog tried again, hoping to break this unspeakable curse.

"Tails?" That seemed to shake her out of it… though not in a good way. The golden vixen dropped to her knees, her hands over her ears, shaking her head madly… Screaming, shattering the charade of silence almost spontaneously with an earsplitting wail of mental anguish.

"**WHAT AM I GOING TO DO NOW?!"** A translation might have read, but with a scream that loud no one could be sure. It sure did make sense though… Tails had… Or rather, 'Kim', had just put herself in one hell of a situation by exposing herself to Sonic. There was no way she could get out of this mess without some extreme acting, and even then… Tails's life would never be the same. Ironically, as if by simply acknowledging the situation herself, Amy seemed to calm the distressed vixen somewhat, who now only _looked_ like a mental ward patient rather than _sounding_ like one. The hedgehog waited a few tense seconds before lightly prodding the vixen's shoulder, to make sure she hadn't died or something, as she stared blankly into space, immobile.

No response. "Tails?" Finally, a reaction. Kim suddenly turned her head toward her, seemingly noticing the hedgehog for the first time.

"What am I going to do, Amy?" Amy noticed the vixen's eyes spilling tears like a waterfall… It only added to the visual ensemble of psychosis surrounding the vixen.

"Tails, it's alright… It's alright; you're going to be okay…" Amy sat down next to her, completely forgetting about the kit's new pseudonym for the time being. Right now, all that mattered to Amy was getting her friend back to normal. She was nearing hysterics, her frantic breaths shortened infinitesimally by persistent tears… It was not a pleasant sight to behold, and the accompanying wail was even less enjoyable. Amy's only respite came as the vixen's hysteria was interrupted by a longer breath… and then another. And another. Finally, Tails calmed herself, and the flow of tears subsided somewhat. Whether it was to be a drought or simply a dam remained to be seen…

"Feel any better?" Amy asked, placing a comforting arm around the calming kitsune's neck. She nodded once, which was at least an improvement over the psychotic scene from mere minutes ago.

"Good… Now tell me… What is the square root of four?" Sure, it was a poor excuse for a test, but it was all she could come up with… The hedgehog had never been good at math. Amy could tell that Tails was rolling her eyes at the simplicity of the question.

"Two." She replied in a low monotone. Amy sighed with relief. For a moment, she thought Tails really _had_ gone crazy.

"Now, I understand what you're worried about: now that Sonic has seen you, there's no way you can return to normal easily. The first question is what to do about Sonic looking for Tails." She was nodding slowly, perhaps still in shock, but there was no way Amy could tell either way. The vixen stood up suddenly, walking back toward her machine.

"The first thing I have to do is get out of this gender." she said. "If Sonic's looking for me, I'll just change back and find him." Amy was amazed she hadn't thought of that. It didn't really take a rocket scientist, which Tails had several college degrees in, to see that the longer Tails remained as a female, the more trouble she would get into. With light, confident steps the vixen entered her machine… Kim's machine, Amy told herself. She might as well use the name for the final moments of what could possibly be Kim's first and only foray into the feminine mystique.

Amy silently observed the process, mystified as the steel hatch closed behind the kitsune as she entered the capsule. A muffled humming began to emanate from the adjacent computer as intricate rings descended from the head of the capsule, seeming to float effortlessly up and down the height of the chamber. Kim's figure was obscured more times than Amy could count as the rings began to move faster and faster along the side of the capsule, until finally the real magic began.

Beyond the blur of the rings, Amy could barely see a fine cerulean mist rise from the base of the chamber, enveloping the vixen until she was completely hidden by fog. Suddenly, a movement caught her eye. Kim had fallen to her hands and knees, visibly shuddering under the influence of the no-doubt toxic fumes. The kitsune's alarming coughs were audible even above the droning hum that grew ever louder each second. Amy reached into her hidden cavity and exhumed her Piko Piko hammer, rushing to her friend's aid by attempting to shatter the glass and free the suffocating vixen.

With not even a mark to record the blow, Amy's hammer rebounded comically off of the reinforced glass, sending the distressed hedgehog skidding back onto the floor. She was forced to watch helplessly as Kim's claws tore deep gashes into the base of the unit, as her beautiful fur coat became ruined with oily coarseness, and as a low, deep growl added to the growing harmony of the machine's incessant hum. The vixen collapsed onto the floor of the capsule, completely immobile as the cerulean haze began to vent and the steel door finally opened. Amy waited on bated breath for a sign of movement from the kitsune, a finger, _anything_ to show that she was still alive…

Seconds passed in tense silence before finally an arm moved slightly… then a leg… Until finally the golden vulpine she knew and loved began to walk down those same steps once more. Despite herself, Amy couldn't help but stare at his body… only to determine whether it had worked, of course! She wasn't a pervert… just a stalker. At least, she liked to tell herself so, as she struggled to avert her gaze from Tails's lower extremities. Not that there was anything she could see… just fur and all.

Luckily, Tails was not paying very much attention to her right now. His legs were shaking violently as he hobbled down each step from his machine, using both arms as crutches against the computer. Even though with every step part of his old vigor returned, the vulpine still hadn't fully recovered by the time he reached the floorboards, sighing with intense relief. He was finally free of those feminine urges that had plagued him for the last few hours of his life.

Amy's eyes widened as Tails dashed into an adjacent room, surprised more by the fact that it was a bathroom than the rapidity of his recovery. The hedgehog had been unaware that the workshop even _had_ rooms other than the shop itself.

"I'm taking a shower, so go ahead and look around for a while… but _please_ don't touch anything, okay?" Tails called out from behind the wooden sliding door as it slammed shut, followed swiftly by the sound of water gushing through pipes under the house to the shower. Of course, with an invitation like that, it would be _impolite_ to refuse, Amy thought mischievously, rolling her eyes before picking a random direction in which to search. After all… perhaps the vulpine inventor had stashed one or two surplus hypnotic guns around the place? And so the hunt begins…


	7. I'm Dreaming of Blackmail Sonic PoV

**Author's Note: **Welcome, FemTails fans! The chapter you are about to read has been changed from its original version in the following way: It has been formatted to fit your growing expectations of my writing skills. There has been a slight trade off from humor to good plot, but there are still a few jokes in here. So feel free to laugh. No, seriously. Laugh. I'M FUNNY, DAMMIT!

Enjoy!

A light spirited female voice called out from overhead, reporting that the train would be leaving for the Mystic Ruins soon. It was the same voice he had heard upon his last trip to the Ruins… and the one before… up to perhaps the very first time he had boarded the train. It had lasted through the years as the one constant, the one thing that never changed. And yet, as Sonic absentmindedly followed the staircase down to the main level of the station, he found that there was something different about it today.

Just like he thought the sky looked clearer through the grimy train windows as he passed through the country, just like he thought the forest's trees were greener, and the day seemed brighter than ever before… just like he found the train ride to be short and pleasant, a radical contrast to the endless boring monotony he usually found in sitting down. There was something different about the world… but he just couldn't place it.

As the twin doors of the station gave way as if pushed aside by some invisible force, the voice from the train followed him out. He couldn't get it out of his head… As he began to jog onto a side street, it echoed off of the walls around him, as he turned into an alleyway it enshrouded him like a fog, even as he leapt up the wall, pushing off of either side until he had risen too far to see the bottom clearly, the voice was there. Over and over, it chanted its melodic refrain until it seemed like the whole world was deafened by it.

But Sonic didn't mind. After all… to him, there had been a change in speakers. Today, it was Kim's voice that had come over the loudspeaker, Kim's voice that was following him around like a lost child. He had seen her likeness in the clouds, seen the golden sheen of her fur on the leaves lit up by the sun, seen her beauteous form all around him on the train… It was heaven. He imagined the vixen's smooth, golden fur… softer than down, inviting him like a warm bed. Kim's voice was that of an angel, calling out to him, calling for him to join her… His feet had never moved faster for him to move so slowly, the inviting haven seeming so much farther with every step, until finally he arrived to find his glorious prize awaiting him. Her tails were wrapped around her legs almost like a shroud of silky smooth fur, as with one elbow she was propping herself up on the mattress while with the other arm she beckoned him closer. The vixen's eyes were entrancing, their pink irises leading him ever closer … The hedgehog reached out to accept her beckoning hand, breathless as he waited to feel her soft seductive touch…

"I must be dreaming, because the Sonic _I _know _never_ stays in one place for this long!" Sonic's eyes snapped open with a jolt at the sound of the familiar voice, his balance leaving him in one fell stroke as his legs gave way and he plummeted to the alleyway below. A flash of gold was all that he could catch before his involuntary aerial somersaults made vision impossible, and it occurred to him that leaning back against one wall while pushing against another with his feet wasn't the most stable of positions to be daydreaming in. This realization became his last as his thoughts clouded from the constant flipping that added an uncomfortable case of dizziness to the ever growing list of things to worry about, chief among them being the ground rising up ever so quickly to meet him. Instinctively, his knees tucked in close to his body, and instead of the limp body of a falling hedgehog, a spined cobalt sphere slammed into the ground, forming a domed crater under the unfortunate creature who had miraculously survived the fall. Whether it was that the kitsune's _intention _was to see the hedgehog plummet to the ground and he was dropping in to observe his handiwork, or that he was simply concerned as to his friend's health, the golden vulpine descended upon the scene seconds later, his spinning namesakes keeping the fox kit suspended safely above the ground that was looking ever so painful at the moment.

As the dazed hedgehog rolled out of his protective ball into the welcoming arms of a world of hurt, he could vaguely hear what was either a cartoon kid's show character expounding the values of sharing and kindness, or an evil kitsune's heartless laughter above him. For his little bro's sake, he hoped it was the former.

"I'd say August isn't for another couple of months, but puns are the lowest common denominator of comedy." Tails was _so_ dead…

"Tails, by the time I can feel my arms and legs again, it would be in your best interest to be as _far_ away as possible." Sonic reported in scathing tones, struggling to lift his broken frame from his meteoric crash site. Nearby, Sonic heard the sound of his bro defying his threats of a painful death and dropping to the ground, walking toward him. A white gloved hand swam in front of the hedgehog's vision, and a second later he realized that the kitsune was offering to help him up. With a visibly shaking arm, Sonic reached out to grasp his bro's hand.

With a vicious tug, Sonic slammed the vulpine into the ground next to him. "What are you doing, Tails? August isn't for another couple of months!" he laughed spitefully. Yep, at least his funny bone hadn't broken. Mentally groaning, Sonic rolled onto his stomach, straining his arms to lift him off of the alleyway that had so very nearly sent him to sleep on a bed of broken limbs. Next to him, Tails was not having any of this humor business.

"Ha, ha. You must think you're very clever, don't you?" the kitsune spat out through a mouthful of dirt. As he stood up, it took him a full minute to fully dust himself off, time Sonic used to struggle to his knees. The battered hedgehog was very aware of the matted clumps of soil that had taken residence in his sharp quills, and the dust cloud that had settled over his limp form from the impact had already masked his identity of the cobalt speed demon. It was only a small consolation that Tails was now in the same boat as him, and at the very least it prevented the kitsune from ridiculing him. Finally, as his legs stopped shaking just enough for him to rise to a swaying stand, Tails took off from where the ill fated conversation had been abruptly paused by Sonic's tumbling descent.

"What were you doing up there, anyway?" Sonic had to steady himself against the wall of the alley, still not fully recovered from his rather literal trip down the alleyway. What had he been doing, again? Something to do with beds and pillows… and sleep…

"Thinking." Sonic replied, as he finally remembered the subject of his waking dreams. Better not to mention Kim right now, if he could avoid it. If Tails had been waiting to unveil his sister to him for some reason, he at _least_ wanted to give his vulpine brother the benefit of the doubt.

"About what? What could _possibly_ be on your mind for you to climb up a wall to think?" Tails inquired, leaning back against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. Oh, so Sonic was the one who was being interrogated, was he?

"Oh, I dunno… maybe about the fact that my own little bro neglected to mention the fact that he had a sister? Or how about the fact that you haven't told her about me?" he retorted, and would have mimicked Tails's posture if he hadn't already been in it.

"Pssh, you were thinking about laying her and you know it." Sonic mentally gulped, trying desperately to figure out how the kitsune could have possibly known what he was thinking. The hedgehog cursed the vulpine for forcing him to bring her up at all. He had to think of something fast, or things would get real ugly between him and his bro…

"Heh. You know it. After all, I learn by example. I've seen how you look at Cream." Sonic smirked, having dodged a bullet. Plus, it was nice to see Tails sweat for once. True, the hedgehog hadn't _caught_ the kitsune eyeing her, but it didn't take a genius to figure out what Tails was doing in the backrooms of his workshop.

"Look, just because you like my sister does _not_ give you the right to start touching yourself in public." Sonic felt the heat rise to his face. Had he really been… up there? Or was the evil kitsune just bluffing?

"Haha! You really _do_ like my sis that way!" Sonic glared as Tails began to laugh, his bluff having worked to perfection. And… Oh great. That look in his eyes… The kitsune had gotten himself a new evil plan, Sonic just knew it. Somehow, some way, Tails would find a way to blackmail him like he always did, and the unfortunate hedgehog would become the vulpine's slave for the next year. Sometimes he hated his little bro…

"So what do you have for me that'll make me not tell Amy?" Tails proposed, his lips curling into a cruel smile. Sonic's eyes widened in terror.

"You wouldn't. You _can't_. You won't! **DO YOU ****KNOW**** HOW THAT HAMMER FEELS ON YOUR SKULL?!**" Sonic shouted, fear giving him the strength to stand upright and beg for mercy. Nobody was that cruel, he reasoned… Nobody would be that evil, right?

"Nope. And unless you want to find out, I'd suggest you find something I want, and fast." Evidently, all this crap he'd been told about a "kind and merciful God" had been a waste of breath. The hedgehog sighed in defeat, rolling his eyes before signing his soul to the devil.

"What do you want?" He could almost hear his bro's mad cackling as Sonic signed the dotted line at the bottom of the contract. Any moment now, the gates of Hell would open below him and he'd sink into a world of pain and suffering. Er… _another_ world of pain and suffering.

"Nothing much. Just go on a date with my sister and survive. I'll be there to make sure it's as interesting as possible." Tails grinned from ear to ear as Sonic fell to his knees in a strange mixture of gratitude, pleas for mercy, and exhaustion. He had a feeling Tails was enjoying this in his twisted mind…

"Do I have a choice?" Sonic replied in a monotone, admitting defeat. Tails shook his head before turning to leave. He called out behind him as he left the alleyway, just loud enough for Sonic to catch his words.

"Head to my workshop in an hour." As the hedgehog heard the telltale sound of the kitsune flying off into the distance, he let out a groan of exasperation. What had he gotten himself into _now?_

**I had to take some jokes out of this chapter to improve the quality. I at least hope you laughed at the new one I added. **


	8. Two New Highs Tails PoV

**Sorry this took so long. I never expected schoolwork to occupy my time so much - that coupled with an unshakable urge to play not one, nor two, but THREE different videogames with almost religious zeal. Again... sorry. I hope i made up the gap with quality and length, at least.**

**Many thanks to Tailsic and Lynnie. They provided much help. And to you, the readers as well. Pat yourselves on the back. And now on with the story...**

A rush of sensations returned to his body in an instant, and with the visual force of a thousand hammers the kitsune was reunited with the world. A rollercoaster of sights bombarded him in a gyrating carnival ride of nausea, as if he had fallen into a veritable drunken Picasso of deformed bricks swimming in a collage of urban normality.

A patch of swirling sea rose up spontaneously to meet him as what balance he thought he had suddenly vanished. An odd groan escaped from his slightly parted lips which just barely avoided consorting sinfully with his improvised bedding.

'_What… What just… happened?'_ The words disappeared as quickly as they came, flashing upon a canvas of closed lids; his only defense against the raging maelstrom of chaos around him.

A twisted soundtrack of city streets pressed up against his eardrums, a mere caricature of its original integrity. His head seemed to sway against his forearm with every ebb and flow of the raging sea around him, a metronome to some infernal beat below. A question presented itself once more, desperately clamoring to be heard by a mind teetering on the brink of insanity: What had just happened to him?

The kitsune's heart thumped steadily in his chest, already beginning to synchronize with the raging sea's dance. Oddly, he found it a soothing balm to his aching mind. Over and over, he began to play back the incident, details fading with each and every recall. The approach, the fall, the bribe… _where had his actions ended, and hers began_?

Bile rose up into his throat, its sickly metallic chemistry threatening to spill into the street. Tails redoubled his efforts to shut his eyes, struggling to force the distasteful slop back from whence it came. It stung his throat thrice as painfully on the return trip, merely biding its time until another wave of nausea swelled and released its vile stew onto the pavement.

Once, twice, thrice over, Tails engorged his lungs with air, packing the delicate sacs to their limit each time. Gradually, his stomach began to settle, and his scattered mind began to return to sanity - the memories that had shattered it having begun to lose their destructive clarity. The vulpine could no longer be sure how long he had watched his big bro up in that alcove; he could no longer remember what had come over him to even _consider_ blackmailing the hedgehog who had been so much more to him than his best friend; he could no longer recall the exact moment when he had lost control of his thoughts.

"You okay, Tails?" Another question added to the thronging mass clouding his mind. Tails ignored it as just another agent of chaos seeking to send him further down the path to insanity. Better just to lie here, on all fours like some drunk off a binge, than to expose himself again to the nauseating swirl.

"Tails?" A realization took him by storm. The voice was clear cut, absent the white noise that had earlier bombarded his eardrums.

He opened his eye a crack. The vague outline of a face appeared, brown eyes framed by a backdrop of floppy ears. No sea of color. No nauseating swirl. It had all been replaced by the body of Cream the Rabbit. Like some messiah sent from on high, she had lifted the drunken haze that had clouded his mind, and her angelic form had taken its rightful place at the forefront of his sight.

"Cream…?" He managed to whisper, struggling to rise off of the ground. Well… he had _expected _to struggle. The surprise came not two seconds later, when he found himself staring into his savior's brown irises. The ever elongating list of abnormalities of body from the past five minutes was instantly forgotten…

"Tails! Are you okay?!" Cream exclaimed, her concern washing over Tails like a pail of ice water. Any dregs of confusion were swiftly dispelled, and his nausea was somehow enhanced by an inexplicable shyness. For the third time that day, an awkward stutter had crept into his tones, an oddity made even stranger by the lower pitch of his male voice.

"Er… y-yeah, I'm… I'm fine, yeah. W-where… Where am I?" In the absence of anything relevant to say, all Tails could think was to change the subject. He looked away quickly as he realized that he had been staring at Cream instead of trying to explain to _himself_, let alone Cream, what had happened to him. As he looked around, he found he was able to see his surroundings with clarity for the first time in he _honestly _did not know how long. Cars passed him by just as before his episode, pedestrians spilling on either side like a stream flowing past a rock, indifferent to the two obstacles conversing in their path.

"You're on the sidewalk on Main Street. I saw you lying here and came to check on you. What happened?" Although disappointed as to Cream's lack of information of the origins of his strange symptoms, he found it hard to blame her while he stood, entranced by her petit frame. This same distraction made it difficult to come up with something credible to respond with as well. All the blood his brain needed to convey what had happened to him had seemingly vanished on the spot, dispersing like migrant workers to perform other infernal, infuriatingly useless tasks.

Still, he had to come up with something. He couldn't lie to her. After all, she had cared enough to check on him, right?

"W-well, I think… I got really dizzy, and… and I t-tripped and fell…" True, he had gotten dizzy and fallen. Quick, simple, to the point, and he hadn't lied. Something began to tug at the edge of his memory, he needed to be someplace, go somewhere, but where could he possibly need to-

"Cream, what time is it?" Urgency stripped his shy stutter and visual distraction immediately, leaving only purpose behind. Rather surprised by his sudden outburst, Cream flinched for a second before reaching to her pocket and flipping open her phone.

"Two-twenty; no, wait… Twenty-one." Cream read. _'It's been a whole fifteen minutes since I saw Sonic… That means I don't have much time to set everything up!'_ With Cream completely forgotten, Tails dashed off; internally fretting about every minute detail of the preparation he had planned. As only a mere afterthought, Tails shouted back behind him.

"Sorry Cream, gotta go! Thanks for the help!" Then he was lost to the sky, looking back only once to find Cream lost in the crowd. Rising urgently, he spotted the train station in the distance and soared into a convenient jet stream. As the marble steps of the massive building distinguished themselves from the rest of the sidewalk, the kitsune began his descent, touching down upon the second-to-last stair with plenty of momentum to spare. Racing into the atrium and up the winding stairs, Tails made it onto the train mere seconds before its twin metal doors slid shut.

With no rest for the wicked, no sooner was the vulpine seated that he began meticulously plotting the events of the evening. His momentary collapse on the streets of Station Square was seemingly dismissed as a nightmare, never to be minded again, overshadowed as it was by this new scheme. Not only would the kitsune be able to torture Sonic to death on their 'date', he could make him get rid of Amy as he did so. The plan was flawless in its perfection…

And its simplicity. Amy would downright _kill_ for a chance to get Sonic out on a date, and she frequently had, as Eggman's legions of mechanical armies could easily have attested to before their inevitable destruction. All Tails had to do was give Sonic an ultimatum, and he would be _forced_ to send Amy away. If he were lucky, Tails might just be able to see Amy succumb to insanity from rejection. The very idea was like addictively intoxicating, almost hypnotic.

Lost in his thoughts, the train ride passed by without notice from the plotter sitting in 4b, and the only distraction to the kitsune's plans came when the announcer's synthetic voice made clear the train's arrival in the Mystic Ruins. In other words, time for Tails to get up and put his plan into action.

The kitsune's heart was pounding as he disembarked onto the station platform, which should have concerned him. No sane guy would be worried about a date, _especially_ not with another guy… but somehow it didn't bother him. He was too engrossed by the tantalizing prospect of watching Sonic's meltdown as he is confronted by both Kim and Amy together, to even consider the alarming concept. The idea made him almost giddy with anticipation…

…Scary.

Tails was already halfway up the stairs to the workshop plateau by the time he noticed he had been walking the entire time, lost in thought. Even more alarming was the fact that the steps were posing a greater challenge to scale this time around. Perhaps his short spill onto the streets of Central Square had somehow robbed him of his usual dexterity? Odd… but, again, he wasn't concerned.

He walked to the cliff at the water's edge, and stopped to stare at the glowing sunset. '_Not long to go… I should hurry.'_ After a moment's hesitation, Tails turned to scale the final terrace to his workshop. The kitsune opened the door, a million plans and preparations waiting to be addressed swirling in his mind.

As he opened the door, Tails was greeted by the scene of his nightmares, ironically reversed. Over and over he had relived that fateful day when he had swiped and smashed his prototype hypnosis inducer, reminded each and every time that if he hadn't – his own brother might have become Amy's slave.

And now this nightmarish scene was being played out again in some cruel sense of déjà vu. But now, instead of playing the heroic defender of free will and justice, Tails had been cast as the petrified victim staring down the business end of the very machine he had spawned; and this time, there _was _no hero to save the day. That part had been almost purposefully omitted, as if to add yet _another_ dimension of suspense to the already horrific scene from hell.

Tails was beginning to_** hate**_ suspense…

"I've been waiting a long time for this, Tails…" Amy's tones were low, smooth as silk: the most dangerous weapon in her arsenal. He gulped, paling in the face of a volatile mind, deranged by rejection. Not half an hour ago, the vulpine had left her happy, and carefree; and now… she had a gun pointed at his face. Tails would have almost preferred it to have been a revolver with bullets than this kind of pistol: the unmerciful caliber that _wouldn't _kill him.

"Amy, think about what you're doing for a second, you don't know how that thing works!" Tails stepped back once more as Amy's grin only intensified. In hindsight, that mightn't have been the _best_ way to say that the prototype version in her hands had an annoying tendency to prolong the effect of hypnotization indefinitely.

"Sure I do. Just point and pull the trigger. Nothing to it." Translation: Tails was boned. Amy's malicious smile grew ever wider as her trigger finger trembled just shy of frying what was left of the kitsune's mind: an experience that Tails was none too eager to relive, having just recovered from one such episode not ten minutes ago. He had a sneaking suspicion that this time, like every other guy he knew, he wouldn't be so lucky.

"Look, there's Sonic!" Tails gestured wildly toward the other side of the workshop, and Amy turned frantically to search for her fiancé-to-be.

…or at least, that was the idea.

"How dumb do you think I am?" Her reply was a harsh wake-up call to the cornered kitsune. Was that all he could come up with? A desperate attempt to distract his advantaged opponent with an aged and outdated cliché? Tails could do better than that… he _**had**_ to, or else Sonic would be lost forever to Amy's hypnotic spell…

He racked his brain. '_Come __**on**__, you've __**seen**__ how her mind works! What have you been __**learning**__ all day?! There has to be __**something**__ you remember that can help you!'_ Tails frantically clawed through every parable he had been dealt, and was greeted only with a bitter swill of failure. His only consolation lay in that Amy still hadn't pulled the trigger. The kitsune's last seconds of freedom, passed by quicker than ever as he waited for oblivion. _What is she waiting for?_ Tails thought, preferring almost anything to the added torture of waiting for his demise.

_'Wait…'_ he realized, '_she's lost in her daydreams… just like I was.' _Instantly, he knew it to be true. Amy's eyes were distant, glazed with sweet dreams, fantasizing of a "happily ever after" with her beloved Sonniku. Now was his chance… it was now or never.

Gently, he reached back with one of his tails, and eased it into the door slowly and steadily, until he felt the rough hairs brush up against the smooth metal behind him. He checked Amy's eyes again; she was still lost in her thoughts. '_On three… one… two…'_

Tails caught the motion instantly, saw Amy's eyes snap into focus, saw her grin twitch with malice, saw her finger crush the hellish trigger. There wasn't enough time to count, to think, to plan; there was only instinct, and nothing else. Tails fell back into the door, which opened fully under his full weight. Dazed, on the ground, he found himself staring up at a strange mirage of distorted light, as if the ceiling had suddenly decided to ripple with a strong current.

The waves subsided, and a realization crashed over him like a wave: he hadn't been hit. There was no time for celebration, for no sooner had the thought entered his brain than Amy had begun to lower the gun barrel to the floor. Tails rolled to the side, thankful that he had not supplied _ammo_ for the weapon.

As Tails sat up again he was faced with the barrel of the gun once more, this time with Amy standing over him; with only a spent prototype in her arms to threaten him with. And although her skill with blunt objects was legendary, Tails found it difficult _not_ to be slightly relieved that the gun was out of batteries. He was relatively safe.

With a vicious uppercut, Tails kicked the useless piece of technology into the air, and in a flash he was up again facing his mutineer with a vengeance. Amy stepped back, confused; unable to comprehend that her perfect scheme had once again gone awry. Any sympathy Tails may have had for his upcoming plans of rejection vanished in that moment. Tails calmed himself completely, and donned a smile: the grin of sweet revenge in the making.

"I was _going_ to tell you," Tails began, savoring the almost lyrical verse of cruel lies, "that Sonic was on his way to ask you on a date…" He paused, letting the guilt sink in. "…before you tried to shoot me." And just like that, the deed was done. Amy was groveling at his feet in moments with remorse over her betrayal. '_Too little, too late.' _Tails widened his apparently benevolent grin with sadistic pleasure; a caveat to any who knew him well. Yet, Amy was blissfully unaware of his plot. '_But not for long…'_

"…I'd get up off that floor if I were you. Motor oil isn't the _only_ thing that has spilled onto it over the years." As Amy subsequently upended her bowels onto said floor and herself, Tails couldn't help but laugh. Not just at the fact that the pink hedgehog had just donned a coat of her own vomit, but also at the irony that he wouldn't have known what the hell he had just said before today.

"Go ahead, take a shower. I'm gunna change into something more feminine." Amy stood, unquestioning, and ran into the bathroom. Whether she was going to finish puking her brains out or wash up first, the kitsune didn't really care. It was time to do the deed.

As Tails began to scale the steps to the changeling capsule, the pipes above began to hiss with the tell-tale whine of gushing water. _Well, at least she's done puking… It was starting to smell in here._ With a smile on his face, he took the last steps through the newly made entrance to the machine, and turned to watch the door close behind him.

A throbbing hum began to reverberate inside the glass walls as the first of the three rings descended from on high, glowing with an artificial aura. Tails could hardly see outside anymore as a haze rapidly replaced the available air. _On three…_ Tails counted, ready to take the first breath as his alter ego once more. _One… two…_

The machine didn't even let her get to three as her legs gave out, the fine mist filling her system in an instant. She let go completely, allowed her mind to wander as a new body was returned to her. On a whim, she breathed in deeply the intoxicating aroma that had enveloped her senses, more than just fragrance and sweet nectar. Perfume began to hint into the mix, subtle drifts of lighter scent drifting into the volatile blend, and she began to be overwhelmed by new sensations in previously foreign places.

She fought a sudden, overpowering urge to _feel_ the change in her lower body as her mind began to be flooded with images, feelings, _urges_… She fought it with every fiber of her being, a consciousness being weakened by every breath she took.

Suddenly, it was all gone, a world of sensations replaced by a null void – all but one stimulus obliterated. She smiled as an entity of pure _blue_ filled her sight, and caressed her soft fur lovingly. Shivers tingled up her spine as his scent filled her nostrils – and she breathed it in eagerly. It was ambrosia, a delicacy turned addiction. _**Sonic…**_ the word occupied her entirely: she felt it on her downy fur, tasted its metallic impulse on her tongue, felt it fill her every pore and heard it echo through her mind until she could no longer tell whether these were Sonic's thoughts or her own. Nor did she care. It felt right, and it wasn't _ever_ going to end.

A sneaking hiss drew her from her waking dreams back onto the floor of the capsule where she had left her body behind. Cursing the machine for not having supported her hormonal high for longer, she rose on drained limbs to a weak stand, waiting for her lingering narcotic daze to wear off. A few seconds' recovery yielded moderate success – the sound of rushing water returned. Amy's shower had not yet finished. '_Either she takes forever and an age in there, or that was the world's quickest cat nap…'_ Setting the dry humor aside, Kim hobbled out of the capsule and over to her workbench.

Lying discarded on the edge of the wooden surface lay a brush-like instrument, where it had presumably been strewn carelessly by Amy during her mad searching. The vixen lifted it as if it were porcelain, and ran it over her body – leaving a gap never smaller than a centimeter between her fur and the instrument's bristles.

Within seconds, the opposite side of the brush began to glow as an LCD screen materialized, and a full readout of Kim's bodily structure appeared seconds later. Unsurprisingly, several warnings flashed instantaneously, covering the entire screen. However, lack of surprise hardly constituted a lack of concern. According to the scanner, her body mass was at a critical low, and feminine hormones were through the roof – coupled with the expected 'WTF' moment of the two-tailed issue.

Shrugging, Kim tossed the scanner back onto the desk, satisfied that it was now completely useless. '_I've already screwed my body beyond redemption – I don't need to be told what an idiot I am anymore._' The vixen glanced up as the flow of water abruptly halted, and as if on cue, a warning chimed on several digital clocks strewn about the shop. _'It's already getting late. Only a few minutes until he shows up... Leave it to Amy to abuse every last millisecond…' _the kitsune grumbled, indignant. Her only consolation was the fact that every ounce of preparation on Amy's part was to be for naught.

The door to the bathroom opened just as the opposing door to the shop received three sharp knocks. Amy stepped out, her red dress flowing seamlessly to her knees, her fur preened to perfection, and a dreamy glaze on her eyes that only a Sonic fangirl could know or appreciate.

"Leave it to Sonic to be early…" Kim mumbled to herself. "Shall we?" she spoke, this time to Amy. The radiant hedgehog nodded, and the two walked to the door eagerly. Kim mentally prepared for what was to be the best moment, followed by the best night, of her life.


	9. Twilight Dirge Sonic PoV

"_Now arriving in the Mystic Ruins. Enjoy your stay."_

A synthesized female spoke into his ear as he exited the train, though he could hardly hear her over the funeral march that followed him through the closing doors. The wait for his date was literally becoming torturous to bear. Every step Sonic took felt as if he were carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Every breath of the fresh air of the Ruins tasted bittersweet, for he knew each could be his last. The sunset which bathed the scene in twilight suited him. Although, he noted ruefully, the sun probably wouldn't care if it watched him die.

For the umpteenth time in this past hour, Sonic imagined the feel of Amy's hammer cracking his skull open, envisioned his own lifeblood pooling under him, staining the hallowed ground of the Mystic Ruins with his essence. He could hear Tails, the demon fox himself, laughing it up somewhere nearby, satisfied by the completion of his insidious plot. And here he was, thinking they were still brothers. What a fool…

Tears came to his eyes as he saw Kim standing before his lifeless carcass, a single liquid drop falling from her cheek before the hammer of death claimed her life as well. He felt the impotence of his inability to act even through the unreality of his daydream. A nightmare was still a nightmare, screw the position of the sun.

Looking up, Sonic could see Tails's workshop up on the plateau. It looked somehow strange in the twilight, almost… homey. There were no lightning bolts crackling down behind it, there was no eerie aura of foreboding, and although the funeral dirge never ceased Sonic still couldn't imagine the workshop as a house of horrors.

Upon reflection, Sonic considered the possibility that Tails could literally have created legions of mutated monsters to wreak havoc across the globe, installed trap doors, weird eye-moving pictures, and cameras to watch everything and really made his workshop into _something _out of a horror movie, but of course he hadn't, and all this meant nothing. But it sure did pass the time while he walked to his most certain doom. That, and imagining a random group of five teenagers and their dog arrive in a weird green van smoking pot and mumbling something about splitting up and searching for clues. Sonic didn't know why his daydreams had suddenly morphed into an afterschool special… but _this_ close to death, he no longer cared.

Hardly a minute later, as Sonic arrived at the door, he became acutely aware of the feel of his gloved hand, the hand that would announce his presence at the gates of Hell and seal his fate for eternity. Or for the next five minutes. Whichever came first. He raised it to the door, fingers curled into a rough fist, arm trembling, teeth chattering, someone somewhere nearby offering him a weird dog treat in the shape of a bone before a white gloved fist smashed their vocal cords for good.

Back to the situation at hand, it was lucky he had arrived early. It was the only advantage he had, if, somehow, someway, being early could disrupt Tails's plans… it was a frail, fragile hope to cling to, and he was sure at the end the rope was frayed, and even then – Tails was probably next to it with a knife and a satanic smile, yet he clung to that tiny thread of hope with all of his might. It was the only thing giving him courage to stand at that moment.

He knocked once. Twice. Thrice. Surely it was overkill, but what was worth doing was worth overdoing. As he lowered his arm to his side once more, he began to feel the sweat pool on the inside of his glove. It felt like his fingers were swimming in a puddle of piss, a sensation which was unsurprisingly unpleasant. The liquid was hot and sticky, and his hands were still shaking, which really wasn't doing much to improve the situation either.

Sonic cursed the memory of his little brother. They had arrived.

As the door opened, Sonic took a step back to allow those inside to step out. By the light of the workshop, he saw the familiar figure of the two-tailed kitsune, coming out to view his handiwork in action, his tails swishing with insane-

Once again, Sonic was proven wrong as a young vixen stepped into the fading daylight. She looked as radiant as ever. However, out of the doorway behind Kim stepped a startlingly beautiful creature. The pink furred angel's jewel encrusted headband drew his eyes immediately to her, for the gemstones sparkled entrancingly in the sunset. The dress she wore extended just shy of the ground, and was such a deep shade of red that Sonic thought she must've slaughtered Knuckles simply to get it that color. She wore no perfume, no makeup, simply a smile… and…

And her fur. Her fur stood out more than all the gems in her headband combined, for it shimmered and shone as it absorbed the fading light into pure radiance. It complemented her dress perfectly, though this came to no surprise to any present. Put simply, Amy had become the most beautiful hedgehog alive.

Yet somewhere, hidden within the folds of her dress, perhaps, laid her trusty Piko Piko hammer. Sonic gulped with apprehension. Nobody would be able to see his blood on that dress if the worst should happen…

"Hiya, Sonic darling…" Amy purred, her eyelids half closed in that seductive look that seemed to draw Sonic ever closer. It was hard to resist walking over and sweeping her off her feet at that moment, entranced as he was by her enchanting beauty.

_Kim…_

He snapped out of it suddenly, as if a fog had been lifted from his mind. "Hi Amy," was all he said to her. The pink hedgehog was held captive by her own spell, and didn't even notice his dismissal. She didn't move a muscle. She just stood there, staring at him. At her side, Sonic noticed that Kim was staring at him as well. Yet, as he stood comparing the two, he found they were totally different.

Amy's stare was obviously erotic. Sonic knew without even needing to ask what Amy was thinking as she caressed his body with her eyes. All she cared about was crushing him in her arms, slamming him down onto a bed, and thrusting his body into hers, forcing from him what she so desperately craved.

Kim's stare was nothing like that. As Sonic watched, he could see Kim looking into his eyes, over his body, even following his gaze at times. She never stopped watching him, but always kept looking. It was not seduction, not conspicuously sexual. It was not desire in her eyes… it was a connection. Sonic knew that Kim would never take him by force. This was why he would give everything to her, because he knew she wouldn't take it from him.

She did not simply _want_ him. She already _had_ him. All she needed was to ask, and she never would.

"Amy… there's something I need to tell you." Sonic's worries disappeared as he returned his gaze to the pink hedgehog trying so desperately to win his love. Looking into Kim's eyes had been enough to see the difference, to convince him. He knew now, without a doubt. '_If I were to die, right here, right now… I would die happy, so long as those eyes were the last thing I ever saw._' As if on cue, though Sonic couldn't have been sure, a trace of a smile formed on Kim's lips at that moment. But… he had been looking at Amy at the time, whose smile had never lifted, so he could have imagined it.

Amy replied a few seconds later, in what she probably supposed was an appropriate pause to facilitate his seduction. "I need to tell you something too, Sonic." Again, her silken tones came almost as a whisper. Yet she didn't stop there, didn't even give him time to respond. She simply continued on, heedless of what he had to say.

"I need to tell you that I'm ready. I want you, Sonic… I've always wanted you. I need you to be beside me, to love me, to hold me… Sonic… I love you. Take we with you…" Amy took a step closer, her arms reaching for his. Sonic gulped, seeing the window closing on his opportunity. His last chance to act. Somewhere, Tails was leaning in closer, watching, waiting for the sacrifice to commence. Oddly, it seemed that was exactly what Kim was doing as well, from her position to Amy's left. It was now or never. He could either take the offer, and live as Amy's slave… or die faithful to Kim. Sonic took one last look into her crystalline irises before signing away his soul to the Devil himself.

"Amy… stop. Just stop. I know you love me. You've always loved me. Your love has caused me more pain than you can imagine… I can't take you with me anymore. I'm sorry Amy. I wish this pain on no one, but...

"Amy… I love Kim." The world seemed to freeze in that moment, the sun itself having halted in its breath to watch the scene unfold. Tails, wherever he was, stopped breathing. Kim froze. Amy stared numbly in confusion. Sonic screwed his eyes shut, his entire body tensing as he mentally prepared for the attack. The brain crushing blows of a thousand hammer strikes, the bone crippling smashes of her hammers. He waited for his death, all the while an image of Kim's eyes granting him solace in his final moments.

Sonic waited breathlessly for the attack that never came. Instead, nearly a minute later, a single sob permeated the air, sending the world into motion again. Both lovers turned to watch Amy dash off into the growing darkness, her tears staining the ground as she ran, her wails of despair echoing to the far corners of the Ruins with every passing moment. They would persist long after their source had fled, long after it had died of a broken heart. Her tormented cries would live forever in the stone of the Mystic Ruins.

Sonic was dimly aware of someone holding him, whispering condolences to him, crying with him… the voice begged for forgiveness. He was no longer sure of himself, no longer could he justify sending Amy away to die alone. He was heartless… Tears fell from his eyes as he wondered how he could live with himself now. It felt like a sin to share the moment… but the pain was too much to bear in silence.

"Kim… Would you… like to go somewhere… with me?" Reddened eyes stared back into his as he looked down. There was no smile as she nodded. There were no words to express their regret.

"C'mon. Let's go." They began walking. Sonic had no clue where.


End file.
